User blog:SArchangel/Altverse Concept: Greek Superpower
Outline New Byzantine Empire (Altverse Alternate History) Premises: *In reaction to the Young Turk revolution, a Military League in Greece was established by the Goudi coup in 1908, calling for reforms and militarization of Greece in preparation for war against the Ottoman Empire. The League elected Cretan politician and founder of the Liberal Party Eleftherios Venizelos as Prime Minister of Greece in 1910 to instigate reforms and begin militarization. Venizelos promises Greek victory against Turkey and to make Greece a continental power in Europe. *'The Second Balkan War never happens because Bulgaria is satisfied with its gains from the war.' Thus Serbia does not ascend as the greatest Balkan power which it did after the Second Balkan War ended, and instead Greece is the greatest power in the Balkans by the end of it; the Greek community sees Venizelos' promises fulfilled and immediately he becomes a very popular leader. Also, King George I is never assassinated by an anarchist and continues his long rule. *Victory of Greece in the First Balkan War, which in this history is simply known as the Balkan War because a second one never happens, leads to the explosion of Greek nationalism and irredentism under the now popular Liberal Party led by Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos; Venizelos' non-democratic rule was tolerated. Many Greeks want the acquisition of Constantinople/Istanbul and various Ottoman territories that once belonged to Byzantine Greece, especially as retaliation for the brutal treatment of Greek people under Ottoman rule since the Greco-Turkish War in 1897. However the acquisition plan never took root because of the outbreak of World War I. Nonetheless, this Greek nationalist fanaticism will eventually evolve into the form of a united social and political movement known as the Neo-Byzantine movement, which is a socio-political philosophy that primarily holds the concept of a modernist revival of the Byzantine Empire.The Neo-Byzantine movement quickly spreads dominates Greece. *Upon the formation of the Central Powers during the early stages of World War I, King George I refused the Neo-Byzantine call to join the Allies and launch an invasion of Turkey along with their ally Russia. When George I was assassinated by a Frenchman and Allied supporter in 1915, Prince Constantine ascended to the throne, however in George I's absence, Venizelos assumed authority over much of the monarchy's political powers. Eager to keep the East Orthodox Church allied with the Neo-Byzantine movement, Venizelos did not dethrone King Constantine I, but simply reduced his role to that of a religious and ceremonial leader and somewhat of a figurehead. Unlike in real history, Constantine did not make the same ideological mistakes as his father and complied to Venizelos' rule because he knew the majority of Greece was in favor of his practice of Neo-Byzantinism in the Greek government. *'Lacking the military might to invade Turkey, Venizelos decided to militarize Greece first.' Greece was in preparation for militarization as the socioeconomic prong of the Neo-Byzantine philsophical movement had allowed the country to domestically adopt a strong corporatist economy that helped keep much of Greece's accumulating wealth in its economy. Greece's neutrality was also beneficial because it allowed Greece to gain a significant trade surplus among Mediterranean nations; it was not until near the end of World War I that Greece joined the Allies. When World War I ended, Greece had constructed one of the most powerful navies in the Mediterranean for its time. At the same time, Greek also became a refuge for thousands of fleeing White Russians and thus inherited much of the Imperial Russian Navy and many former Imperial Russian troops. Famed Russian naval commanders Admiral Eberhart and Admiral Kolchak also joined the Greek navy as they fleed Russia during the October Revolution. *At the Paris Peace Conference, Bulgaria gives Western Thrace to Greece as demanded by Venizelos. *In 1919 (after the Paris Peace Conference), the Turkish nationalist revolution and the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire meant trouble for Mediterranean Turkey's large Greek population. Venizelos took the opportunity to invade Asia Minor, using the Dodecanese Islands as springboards for the invasion of continental Turkey. Thus began the Greco-Turkish War. In accordance to these alternate histories, the much stronger Greek military force wins the Battle of Ínönü (the first one, as in this althist there were never two) and the New Turkish provisional republic does not gain military support from Britain and France and the genocide of Greeks in Turkey never happens. Instead, in accordance to League of Nation's protocol, Britain and France decide to appease Greece. The 1919 Treaty of Athens is signed, ending the war and ceding Eastern Thrace, Ionia, and the entire Turkish Marmara Region to Greece. *In the 1920s, Greece's modernized corporatist economy stumbled but managed to survive decently through the Great Depression, particularly on the state-owned chromite industry that it established in Ionia. Greece put much government funding on Istanbul which they renamed Constantinople. The most notable project was the reconstruction of the Hagia Sophia, a former patriarchal basilica converted to a mosque under Ottoman rule. In times of economic strife, the reconstruction taking place in Greece's new territory attracted many who lived without jobs as a result of the depression. At the same time Greece honored the rise of Fascist Italy as a "revival of the Western Roman counterpart". At the dawn of the 1930s, Italy's militarism and greater population helped it surpass Greece as a continental power, although Greece still remained a force to be reckoned with. Mussolini in turn recognized Greece similarly. *Greece honored the rise of German nationalism under the Nazi Party. The Christian corporatist Neo-Byzantine Greece had long opposed the Comintern and in 1936 the country was given the option of joining the Axis powers to fight Communism. However, Venizelos was more interested in the cession of Northern Macedonia to Greece from the Serbs. Using the German-inspired blitzkrieg strategy, Greek forces surge into neighboring kingdoms Yugoslavia, Albania, and Bulgaria in 1935 on the pretext that the countries were experiencing a period of disunity and turmoil and needed to be pacified and reformed under Neo-Byzantine philosophical policy. *In 1936, Venizelos proclaimed the New Byzantine Empire, encompassing the Kingdom of Greece, the Kingdom of Serbia, the Kingdom of Albania, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria, with Macedonia ceded to the Kingdom of Greece. Although the early stages of Greek control would be greatly disputed, by the time WWII broke out, there was generally a lack of resistance between the countries. This was primarily because Greece possessed neither racial, ethnic, nor language agenda, instead promoting the unity of the countries as members of Byzantine culture and united for mostly religious regions. The strong corporatist economics and the lack of democracy of Neo-Byzantine Greece were beneficial for these kingdoms that had long suffered from poverty and disunity during the Great Depression, and they much favored a very collaborative Greek-led constitutional federation over the dictatorial rule of either Nazi Germany of Fascist Italy. King Constantine's son Alexander was crowned the New Byzantine Emperor Alexander I, although he was also simply a figurehead. The neutral New Byzantine Empire nonetheless prospered. *In 1940, the New Byzantine Empire joined the Axis, and the Royal Armed Forces of Greece joined forces with the Italian invasion force to North Africa. However this move was very controversial to members of the Neo-Byzantine movement, who wanted Greece to act independently and stay in good terms with European powers like France and Britain. Because Serbia, Bulgaria, and Albanian militaries were excluded from participation of war, there was no objection from these new "Imperial Byzantine states". *In 1942, the devastation of Greek forces in the Italian invasion of Egypt made Venizelos' Axis alliance policy rather unpopular. At the front of the vastly growing anti-Axis Neo-Byzantines was Parliament member and governor of Ionia, Alexandros Papanastasiou, who had Venizelos arsenic poisoned by a fanatical member of a militant-Zionist cult that he purposely hired into Venizelos' office staff for the assassination. As the second highest member of Venizelos' Liberal Party, Papanastasiou ascended as the succeeding Prime Minister of the New Byzantine Empire, and declared Greece to no longer be a member of the Axis pact. *Angry at the NBE's defiance, Mussolini ordered the occupation Crete, prompting war between the NBE and Italy. After subsequently defeating Italy in the North Africa Campaign in 1943, Britain approached the NBE for the establishment of a military alliance against Italy. In exchange for the cession of British-owned (and Italian-occupied) Cyprus, Papanastasiou agreed. While the invasion of Sicily took place, the NBE's armed forces invaded the Salento Peninsula, and Italy surrendered in September. Neo-Byzantine movement Premises: *The Neo-Byzantine movement stemmed from the Megali Greece idea formulated since the 1844 monarchical constitution of the Kingdom of Greece. It was popularized by Greek irredentist/nationalist philosophers prior to First Greco-Turkish War in 1897. After the defeat of Greece in the war, the popularity of the Megali Idea died down. *In 1908, in response to the Young Turk Revolution, an anti-Ottoman movement that stemmed from the Greek military created a Military League before launching a coup that reduced the Greek king into a figurehead and replaced the monarchical government with a fascist militaristic regime seeking mass reform. The group revived the Megali Idea in 1910 when they swore in Cretan politican Eleftherios Venizelos as Prime Minister. *Venizelos promised that Greece would free itself from the Ottoman sphere of influence in the next war. Greece won the Balkan War along with several other Balkan states. Venizelos fulfilled his promise and he became very popular. Simultaneously, an explosion of nationalism among Greeks started a revival of the Megali Idea that eventually stemmed into the creation of a socio-political movement called the Neo-Byzantine movement, which called for modernist revival of the Byzantine Empire and the dominion of the East Orthodox Church. *The Socioeconomic prong of the movement was a strong corporatist economy that aimed to concentrate power and wealth equally among social classes Category:Blog posts